Editor’s note: Since this Nitro involves MENG, I am out of possible death by MENG, required to capitalize MENG every time I type his name.

It should be noted that Vader was finally taken out of the intro and replaced by Lex Luger. Bischoff, Heenan and Mongo start us off. Mongo has that stupid dog with him and I’ve basically ignored Mongo on commentary. I’ve came to the conclusion that I’ll have to deal with him for at-least a year and it’s not worth pointing out his idiocy. They try to get over the gag that his dog urinated on Bobby’s shoe. We get a recap of the Savage/Luger confrontation as it’s time for disco!

Alex Wright vs Disco Inferno

I know that Inferno gets crapped on for some of his creative ideas in WCW (Alien invasion, invisible man, wrestling architect) but the gimmick is in so bad its good territory. The theme is catchy and obnoxious in the same way that Orndorff’s theme was and he gets decent heat. I’m still on the Alex Wright bandwagon, if he had brought in around the time of WCW seriously building a mid-card; I think he’d be remembered better. His areal moves are very crisp and look great, but man that Wunderkid and the dancing just killed him. The announcers are talking up everything else going on and Wright wins via backslide. Kind of weird to hype Disco’s Nitro debut to only have him lose in a few minutes. This was a filler match, used more to talk about the Hogan/Giant situation.

We get a Hogan promo and he’s wearing a comically oversized neck brace as he talks up his injury. Hogan begins to call him Giant a “stinky nasty Giant” and the first of many times that he would call him throughout this feud. Hulk makes the challenge for the Sumo Monster Truck Match, which would go down in infamy as a giant waste of money. Hogan manages to get in the super tasteless line about hoe Giant will be slammed and laid to rest next to his father.

Alright, I want to get something off my chest.

Now, we’re taking a break from the Nitro to review to talk about Andresploitation. I know many people consider the exploitation of Eddie Guerrero and Paul Bearer’s death as top-line exploitation; the Andresplotation is the worst in my mind, next to all the crap Fritz Von Erich pulled. One, Andre the Giant never worked for Ted Turner’s WCW and his only appearance was in 1992 for the twentieth Clash of the Champions, which coincided with the twentieth anniversary of pro wrestling on TBS. That’s it, and most of all the worst aspect is that this was Hogan-endorsed. Hogan wielded a ton of creative power and no doubt this was given the Hogan seal of approval. Andre made Hogan’s first reign with the belt and I dare say that WrestleMania III is the defining match of Hogan’s career. The stare down between those two at the Silverdome with the flash bulbs going off is still one of the great WrestleMania moments. Luckily the company put the kibosh on this after Andre’s family came out against the angle publically. The one thing I don’t get is that the company didn’t need to use Andre at all, all the company needed to do was have Sullivan talk up how he found this monster in the jungle. There, Andre free and goes along with the Dungeon recruiting monsters.

Randy Savage wants us to snap into some mechanically separated beef as Mean Gene is in the ring with Savage. We get a recap of the awesome confrontation the previous week and Luger makes his way to the ring. Luger cuts another solid promo bringing up that he earned the respect of Hogan and Sting through their battles but he doesn’t respect Savage. Luger challenges Savage to a match next week and first puts his title shot on the line, but retracts and puts his career on the line instead. Savage accepts and WCW is putting another big PPV match on free TV next week. While this came back to bite the company in the rear a few years later, this set Nitro apart from Raw. Vince realized that and began to slowly put bigger matches on free television, but not at the pace was at.

We get Halloween Havoc and I’m just going to say it, the graphics they’re using are laughably bad. First, you have Hogan and Giant morphing from still pictures into their respective monster trucks, and then the background they use is a bunch of goofy looking ghosts. It’s laughably bad and not the way to sell a big grudge match that saw an attempted murder. That wouldn’t even scare the target audience of Scooby Doo, Bischoff.

Kurasawa w/Col. Rob Parker vs Sgt. Craig Pittman

Wasn’t Pittman a sadistic drill heel sergeant a few weeks ago? Kurasawa was getting a decent push as they had him break Hawk’s arm, but weirdly enough he wasn’t a part of the awesome NJPW/WCW feud. He was teaming with MENG before they paper mache dragon’s mask on his head and sent him to the Dungeon of Doom. This is an odd match, Pittman was an amateur wrestler and competed in MMA so they book this like a weird shoot style matches. Kurasawa kicks the crap out of Pittman’s leg and works the arm, but hits a nice look backdrop on the concrete floor. Pittman rallies back by throwing head-butts to the gut, but Kurasawa picks up the win with a German Suplex. Interestingly enough, WCW was thinking of booking a UFC-like PPV in October, with certain wrestlers competing in “legitimate fights.” I’m just going to presume that Hogan would win.

After that, Gene is in the ring with Pillman and Anderson and this is an AWESOME promo from top to bottom. Pillman looks revitalized since he’s being booked properly since the Blondes in 1993. Pillman compares Flair search for a partner to a bum pandering for change at Times Square. The best part of Pillman’s promo is talking about their right to bear arms, their right to assemble (Pillman puts up the four fingers) and their right to put people in the hospital. Arn gets the stick and brings up that the better man won and Flair should know that once you attack one of us, two of them jump on you. The best part is Anderson running down the attempts made to get Sting and Savage to team with him. Arn brings up Flair trying to put Sting out of wrestling in 1990, and Flair beating up Angelo Poffo. This is the segment you must watch from this episode of Nitro.

This weekend on WCW Saturday Night! The DEBUT of Dusty Rhodes as co-host (YES)! Sting vs Johnny B. Badd! American Males, American Males, American Males, American Males, American Males, American Males, American Males! Plus, the Taskmaster and The Giant will be there. 6:05 Eastern Time on TBS!

GET THIS ON THE NETWORK! EXCLAMATION POINT!

We get a recap of Sullivan attacking Savage and Sullivan wearing a lifeguard jacket over his Taskmaster garb is still good for a laugh.

Randy Savage vs Kevin Sullivan

Man, I have to give Sullivan credit for booking himself into this position. You go from working with Evad Sullivan to big matches against Savage and being a part of the top feud in the company. Savage gets some pyro and it’s funny that Alex Wright has more pyro than the number two face in the company. This is a disappointment in my opinion. Sullivan’s forte is brawling and Savage is a very good brawler, so you’re expecting a wild and crazy brawl. What you get is Sullivan beating up Savage for most of the match before Savage makes his comeback. The Zodia shows up and gets a beating from Savage before Savage is disqualified for throwing Pee Wee Anderson aside. Savage continues to beat on both men until The Giant comes out and hits an awesome chokeslam on Savage. The jobber brigade runs out and they get chokeslam’s for their trouble. Alex Wright gets a big pop when he runs out and tries to come off the top rope but Giant catches him and locks in a bearhug. Giant hits a spine buster as Luger comes out and stands over Savage. Giant grabs him, but Luger gets a few good blows in before eating a chokelsam too. Sullivan is pissed that The Giant attacked Luger.

The match sucked, but this made The Giant look like an absolute monster wiping out five guys with ease. Sure, two of them were jobbers but The Giant looked like a real threat to Hogan and the chokeslam is built up as one-hit kill. Now excuse me, I must weep into my pillow that we never saw Vader vs The Giant. I know it would have sucked, but the visual of the match would make up for it.

Lex Luger vs MENG

MENG comes running out after the Giant attack the match starts because the ref is afraid of MENG. If MENG runs out and tells you to start the match and you say no, what do you think MENG will do to you? We get the announcement of Hogan showing up next week and this match is actually booked rather well. MENG beats on Luger, who is clearly out of it so Luger’s comeback is only in short spurts that MENG cuts off with ease. MENG hits a brutal piledriver and even a gutwrench backbreaker, before Luger begins to make his comeback. MENG will have none of that crap and hits Luger with the Golden Spike to get the victory. Bischoff puts over how The Dungeon of Doom has taken out Luger, Savage and Hogan in a short period of time.

This is what WCW should have been doing with The Dungeon of Doom this entire time, putting them over as legitimate threats to Hogan and The Amazing Friends. Instead, they spent a good amount of time being punching bags with the exception of The Giant. Now, the Dungeon is seen as legitimate threats to end Hulkamania.

We get Bischoff hyping up next week: Savage vs Luger, Hogan, American Males vs The Nasty Boys, Dean Malenko and the show cuts off.

You should definitely watch the Pillman/Anderson promo, but most of it can be skipped. A filler episode before the big one next week, but it continues the Savage/Luger feud which has been surprisingly good. I didn’t remember this feud as a kid, but it’s one of the better feuds that WCW has booked this year.

Editorial note: I realized upon further review Arn Anderson was not wearing a windbreaker in the first episode. We here at The Camel Clutch Blog apologize for the fashion error.

From the Knight Center in Miami, Florida

First off, I have to give props to WCW as the Nitro set is pretty cool for its time. Nice amount of pyro and lighting, really a step-up from what they had been presenting on Saturday Night. The all-metallic motif would set the standard for pro wrestling sets for years to come. Two interesting notes, the commentators desk isn’t set-up by the entrance like it will be until 1999 and the ringside skirt is actually see-through in certain areas with colored lights behind them. Neat.

Mongo starts off with a “Where’s the Beef” reference, which was relevant around the same time that that the Bears last won a championship. Seriously, how could a team with that defense, Walter Payton and somewhat healthy Jim McMahon not win another championship? Oh, that’s right the team was full of egos, McMahon was made of paper, Payton was on the downside, the 46 defense was killed by the spread offense, Ditka was an egotistical prick who lost his players. Read any one of Drew Magary’s “Why Your Team Sucks” pieces on the Bear and you’ll realize that I’m not the only one that feels this. Also, the 1992 Cowboys would stomp a mud hole in the 1985 Bears and walk it dry. I also love that an excuse by some of the players of their only loss was that the game was on a Monday Night and they would win if it was on a Sunday.

Rant over. We get a recap of the closing segment which is still a pretty good segment. We then get the big news that Vader has gone “AWOL” and he has not filed the proper documentation with WCW. I guess that getting pounded by Paul Orndorff isn’t the proper documentation. We start off with Sabu vs Alex Wright!

Sabu vs Alex Wright

You know, I’m a fan of Alex Wright. Sure, the gimmick of being a German dancing Wunderkid is bad but he was a good worker. The announcers put Sabu over hard in this match, bringing up connection to the original Sheik and his willingness to sacrifice his body to win the match. Mongo stumbles upon a formula, realizing that since he sucks at calling wrestling, he’ll just talk about football. I feel like Nitro would have been a lot better with Bischoff and Heenan calling the action, they weren’t the greatest announce team, but it would have been better than Mongo rambling on. Bischoff and Heenan are at-least trying to call the action while Mongo talks about whatever he wants. This is a short but decent match, it’s a showcase for Sabu but Wright gets his offense in. Sabu picks up the victory via Arabian Press (As Bischoff calls it). Sabu beats up on Wright, puts him through a table and Nick Patrick reverses his call, giving Wright the DQ.

For some reason, I want to see a Sabu/Savage match. Don’t ask why, but this is coming from the same guy that thinks Chikara should book New Jack on a consistent basis. I have a thing for train wrecks, not in the Cronenberg movie Crash way, just like watching a good train wreck.

Mean Gene is in the ring and calls down Slick Ric himself, The Nature Boy Ric Flair. This is a pivotal promo, one week away from the match with Anderson and we need a killer promo from Naitch. Talk about the history and we get that for a bit. He brings up how the Horsemen stood for a symbol of excellence and also talks about going out last night. After reading up Flair’s continuous money issues and substance problems, these parts of his promo’s really aren’t that fun anymore. Luger comes out and Flair puts over his measurements and how he predicts that Luger will beat Hogan tonight. Decent promo, more of a hype job for the main event but it’s smart to have a guy like Flair hyping the big main event.

Michael Wallstreet V.K. Wallstreet vs United States Champion Sting

Yes, they changed Michael Wallstreet’s name to V.K. Wallstreet as a potshot to Vince McMahon. For those of you born under a rock, Vince’s middle initial is K. Bischoff spoils the main event of Raw and Mongo buries the Raw name. They also make a reference to how Wallstreet is now playing with the big boys and I’ve noticed that Heenan hasn’t partaken in any of the potshots. There isn’t much to talk about here, Sting runs through Wallstreet with ease in under a few minutes via top-rope crossbody. I do find it weird that you would dedicate time on the first episode to Wallstreet, and then have Sting run through him with little opposition. Was it so that Bischoff and Mongo could take jabs at Raw and Vince for a few minutes?

This Saturday on WCW Saturday Night! Debut of Disco Inferno! Renegade vs Maxx Muscle! Big Bubba Rogers vs Evad Sullivan! Brian Pillman vs Alex Wright! Big Bubba goes from Nitro main eventer to working with a dyslexic guy with a bunny; Renegade vs Maxx Muscle could main event any middle school gymnasium. At least Pillman vs Wright sounds like a good match on paper.

Time for some Scott F’N Norton. This would be the point in the review that I’d put up a montage of Scott F’n Norton killing people in Japan.

Scott F’n Norton vs Randy Savage

Norton comes out and continues to spew trash talk at Mongo and it seems like they were trying to set-up Mongo/Norton. Man, they pushed Norton as an absolute beast during this match; he pretty much pounds Savage from pillar to post in the beginning as Bischoff talks about how Norton has crippled opponents in Japan. Norton busts out a brutal DDT when Savage has his legs on the third ropes, and that’s the best part of the match. All this hype and it sucks knowing that Norton floats around the mid-card from here until 1999 and this guy debuted in 1993 for cripes sakes. I know he had a successful run in Japan around this time, but man envision Vader and Norton tearing it up as a monster tag team. Mongo rambles on about football more as Savage begins to make his comeback. The finish is actually a good finish as The Dungeon runs out and of course Mongo has to Mongo it up. Mongo asks if Taskmaster, who was carrying some stick like object if he was going to turn somebody into a Popsicle. Alright back to the actual finish gets Norton on the ground after Shark falls on the legs of Norton, trapping him. Savage hits the big elbow for the victory. After the match, Norton argues with Shark.

Weirdly enough, they go right to commercial when Luger comes out, and the crowd is into Hogan so it’s not like the typical Hogan reaction from this time. Hulk starts off with some ground work and actually suplexes Luger, but Luger pops up and no sells it. Luger suplexes Hogan and Hogan does the same thing. From here it isn’t much of a match, but both men have the crowd going doing a minimal amount of work. Luger actually turns the tide and gets Hogan in the Torture Rack as the crowd goes wild. Luger thinks Hulk has passed out and drops him in what amounts to the stupidest moment I’ve seen in wrestling history. Luger goes for the pin; Hulk does his Hulk Up routine and drops the leg. The Dungeon of Doom runs out and begins to attack Hogan as the ref calls the match. It wasn’t a great match, but they had the crowd going with what they did. In this match, Bischoff takes his most brutal of pot shots towards Diesel, talking about how he was only a mid-level talent in WCW. Man that must have been awkward if Nash brought that up in contract negotiations in 1996.

The Amazing Friends run in to save the day, clearing out the Dungeon and it should be noted that in two weeks of Dungeon beat downs, they Dungeon wasn’t even booked to be big threats. No segments of the Dungeon laying out Hogan or anybody in the group, making them look very weak. The only guy in The Dungeon that has beaten on Hogan in the build-up is The Giant and he isn’t even in the match! Hogan and Savage are wary of Luger, pointing out that the Dungeon didn’t touch Luger at all. Savage then accuses Jimmy Hart and Sting of being in cahoots with The Dungeon. Sting vouches for Luger and urges Hogan to add him to the team. Savage is opposed and Luger isn’t cool with the idea as Sting tells him that if he doesn’t, it will make Sting look like a fool. Nah, Sting would do that in a few weeks, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Luger accepts and Nitro is off the air as the War Games main event is set. Heenan sells that the team is due to fall apart because of the tension and accuses Sting of being up to something.

Since next week is the Fall Brawl post-show, only two matches are announced. Johnny B. Badd vs Paul Orndorff and either The American Males or The Nasty Boys vs The Blue Bloods.

Overall, this episode was alright, not as good as the premiere but I’d give it a watch for Savage/Norton and Sabu/Wright. The commentary is awful thanks to Mongo and the potshots at the WWE are really unbearable. The bad news is that for all the potshots that Bischoff took including spoiling the results resulted in a 2.5-2.4 victory for Raw.

#FireMongo

The guy just sucks and I seriously think he has some type of brain damage based off how he commentates. I know that with his job as a football player, he probably has it but this is the special brain damage. Just awful.

The WWE Network has been reliving the Attitude Era of the federation for the last few weeks. While the Attitude Era might not be a favorite time among some fans, those years of curse words, “puppies” and almost Rated R programming are probably the most profitable for federation.

Triple H was a major force during the Attitude Era. As part of DX, Triple H led the assault on WCW which eventually led to WWE winning the ratings war. In the ring, Triple H’s feuds and matches against The Rock, Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin sold out arenas and headlined pay-per-views. For a long time, Triple H lived up to his nickname. He was, indeed, the Game.

Triple H’s role in the company has changed dramatically since the days of riding a tank to a WCW arena and telling fans to suck it. Now on the sidelines, but still in the story lines, Triple H is the Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative in the WWE. He’s responsible for the success of NXT and was instrumental in WWE’s global presence in the last few years.

On the day of Summerslam 2014, Triple H sat down for a rare interview with Chris Jericho on his Talk Is Jericho podcast. I’m calling this interview rare because this isn’t an interview with Triple H of The Authority or Triple H as a member of WWE management. This is a discussion with Paul Levesque and an exploration into his early days in the business, his true passion for the sport, and his love of the WWE.

In part one of the two part interview, Jericho asks Triple H about his early days in the WWE and how he became involved with The Clique. Jericho addressed the widely held belief that The Clique ran the show in the days prior to the Attitude Era. Triple H came clean about the faction, and how they did have some pull, but that everyone in the WWE at the time had Vince’s ear because that’s just how Vince operates.

Triple H did share an interesting story about The Clique and the moment in an Indianapolis hotel room that he feels might be the real dawning of the Attitude Era.

“I was in the room, even though I was the new guy and not saying anything, but I was in the room the times they (the Clique) put Bam Bam Bigelow over. Personally, did they all get along, no. There was a moment in time, and everyone talks about this meeting that took place in Indianapolis, where Kevin and Scott were really upset about something. It was the creative direction of something. And Scott was ready to quit. But it was about blow up, and I don’t even remember what it was, but Vince clearly thought they had a point. To the point where he got Jerry Brisco and they flew out to Indianapolis. He said ‘you guy stay there, we’re going to fly out to Indianapolis, and we’re going to sit in a room and go through all this. I remember what them saying ‘clearly the company needs a change of direction, and I want opinions.’

So, I went to just say hello to Vince and Jerry and just leave. Even though we did have a relationship. We would talk after my matches. So those guys so up and I said hi to Vince and hello to Jerry and turned to leave and Vince goes ‘where you going?’ and I said ‘this isn’t my place to be here’ and he said ‘oh no, you’re in this now.’ So I sat down. And Vince takes a roster out and hands it to each of us and goes ‘if this was your team, you’re making a team, who would you want on your team?’ and ‘what do you think is wrong with the product. Not saying we’re going to do it. I just want your opinions.’”

That’s just one of those things I distinctly remember. I remember Bam Bam being very vocal against us, like, “those guys got to go” and I remember every single person in the room had Bam Bam on his roster. It was like all of us said ‘listen, whether we get along with him or not doesn’t matter, the guy can go, and he’s a top guy, and he should be on the team. It was all business. In my mind, to me, and I’m not saying we laid claim to any of it, but that’s the first spark of the Attitude Era. It was the first conversation where wrestling talking about reality. Like, why do we have Doink the Clown?”

Triple H goes on to discuss how everyone asked why they needed characters, and camp, and why guys couldn’t just be who they really are in the ring.

Hulk Hogan was right in the middle of the Monday Night Wars sixteen years ago. The legend of those wars have resurfaced due to a new WWE Network series and Hogan offered a fascinating retrospective in a recent interview.

Hogan gave a recent interview to USA Today focusing on those infamous Monday Night Wars. Hogan arguably offered more introspective on the period in this interview than he has on the recent Monday Night War episodes, although to be fair he has been very good. Here are just some of the highlights..

Hogan was asked how he enjoyed his heel turn with the n.W.o. compared to being the top hero in the business at its peak in the 1980s.

“I was kind of at the crossroads. Vince [McMahon] and I had parted ways a couple of years before, he had an opinion about Hulk Hogan and his longevity and I had a totally different opinion. I left to go to a TV show called Thunder in Paradise for a year or so, a year and a half. Then when Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair approached me about coming back to wrestling, I was ready. After the 14, 15, 16-hour days on the set of this action show I was producing with the Baywatch guys, I’d had enough. When I went back to work, everything clicked. It just worked. I started out with the red and yellow, beat Flair for the belt, and then we get to a point where things flattened off after a couple months. The decision to turn heel was, we were either going to crash and burn or this is totally going to reignite the wrestling business, and it did.”

He seems very confident that his turn was going to have a major impact on the industry. Honestly, I never would have expected his turn to have that kind of impact when it happened. Hogan was somewhat of a fading character and I thought people were tired of him good or bad. I was wrong. He really did reignite the business. Although to be fair it wasn’t just him. He was the icing on the cake.

One very cool question I thought was raised when USA Today asked Hogan if he ever goes back on the WWE Network to watch his old matches. I have heard some of the most famous wrestlers in the world say they rarely watch their matches. Not Hogan.

“Oh my gosh, my wife Jennifer, she goes ‘you’re living in the past! you’re living in the past!’ I say ‘no I’m not, I’m just getting good ideas!’ Some of that stuff we did back in the day was brilliant, some of the storylines and the delivery and the cadence of the storylines, how they were built…. They’d create drama and excitement. I just learned so much from that old stuff we did. I kinda like to watch the Network and go back to my roots just to keep in check with myself.”

I know he is going to get some criticism for that answer from the Hogan haters but I like it. There are fans that live and die with this stuff, Hogan’s especially, and it is nice to see that the wrestler him or herself cherish those memories just as much as their fans.

Hogan was asked whether he expected the legendary reaction he received when he turned at Bash at the Beach?

“Yes, I knew it was going to be intense. When you tell people for 20 years that you love them, tell them to ‘train, say your prayers and eat your vitamins,’ believe in yourself and then all of a sudden you stab everybody in the back. I knew there was going to be a huge reaction.”

Say what you want about Hogan but that reaction was one of the best you’ll ever see. It was completely organic and to see an entire arena so upset that they all started throwing garbage at Hogan and crew was quite a sight, For Hogan, Nash, and Hall it had to be a great feeling.

Finally Hogan was asked about the idea that the War would have put Vince McMahon and the WWE out of business.

“I was praying to God that wouldn’t happen. I prayed to God that we would become the No. 1 wrestling show, and that WWE would thrive and stay the monster that they were. WCW might become a little bit [of a] bigger monster. I never wanted anybody to go away. I wanted two different companies so talent could have a choice where they could work and make big, big money.”

Another interesting answer from the Hulkster. He is exactly right. The business is in a dangerous spot today without competition and you can see it every Monday night. Hogan made big money jumping from one to the other. It would have only benefitted him and everyone else if the business remained that way.

The story of Ric Flair being fired by Jim Herd is a rather one-sided story; Herd is a doofus and fires the greatest wrestler of all time.

Except, was Herd really wrong?

That’s what I’m going to examine today, and why I honestly believe that Herd was actually in the right for firing Flair. We’ve only heard one side of the story, Flair’s as Herd has more or less left the wrestling business behind after being fired by WCW. Now, I wouldn’t want to be in Jim Herd’s spot after Turner buys the NWA, you’re taking over this new company and dealing with egos, an industry you know little about and you’re now dealing with suits who know little to nothing about wrestling. While Herd had his fair share of missteps (Low-balling Ricky Steamboat, most if not all creative decisions under Ole), I’ve honestly came to the conclusion that he wasn’t wrong. I’m not the only guy has that mindset; even Barry Windham has placed the blame on Flair and it was more over money than dropping the belt.

The one problem I’ve had with Flair in this whole situation with him jumping with the belt is when you his book, he brought up Vince’s offer to Harley Race to skip Starrcade and work for him with the NWA belt in tow. Flair talks up how it would have killed business for Crockett and the NWA as a whole. Race wasn’t based in the Carolina’s, he only came in and worked the group whenever he was champion. Race had a stake in his own territory and if he wished, he could have upper and left with the NWA title and sold his stake. Vince was offering him 250k and probably a large main event run against Hogan for coming in with the belt. While some might bring up that Flair was fired, Flair showing up in the WWE with the NWA belt helped to kill business for WCW for a good while. Race showing up with the belt would have done the same thing.

The story of Ric Flair being fired has been told numerous times, but today I hope to bring you a new perspective on the whole situation. Most of you will probably disagree with me and I might have Arn Anderson hunting me down, but hopefully I can give you a different take on the whole situation. We’re starting off with reason number five right off the bat, which takes place about three years earlier, which involved Herd actually siding with Flair.

5. Starrcade 1988

Starrcade 1988 was supposed to be the blow-off to the Luger/Flair feud and it was said that Luger was going to get the big victory over Flair here. The company even used the gimmick of Flair being DQ’ed would result in him losing the title belt. The rematches between the two did good business for the NWA based on the selling point of two gimmicks: No blood stoppage (Flair or Luger gusher every night) and this would be the ONLY rematch between the two and it was taking place in your hometown. Eventually, the company fell back into the old dusty finish with one ref (Teddy Long) getting knocked out, then Flair getting thrown over the top rope, new ref (Tommy Young) comes in and counts the three. Everybody expects a title change, the refs argue and the original ref overrules the new ref and fans get pissed. With the big rematch set, Luger was booked to get the win, but Flair refused and it set off another power struggle between him and booker Dusty Rhodes. The power struggle between Rhodes and Flair had permeated throughout most of 1987 and 1988 and was now at a tipping point with Turner owning the company. Rhodes then went to plan B: Rick Steiner. Depending on what story you believe, two scenarios could have played out. First, the Varsity Club was going to attack Luger on his way to the ring and Rick Steiner would take Luger’s place and beat Flair in just a few minutes. While this made the infamous urban legend list, Flair was scheduled to work with Steiner in the beginning of 1989. Steiner was pretty over as an underdog baby face and was jockeying for position with Luger as the number two face in the company. The other side of the Steiner scenario was that Dusty was putting Steiner in the ring to shoot on Flair and take the belt away from Flair. Steiner was the runner up in the 1983 Big Ten Championship, so Steiner had some legit wrestling skills. Flair went to Herd, and the whole situation was killed off and it was another nail in the coffin for Dusty.

So, we now have an established history of Flair refusing to job to Luger. That will be a common theme in this article. Three years later, the same four men would find themselves in the same situation and I believe that Herd saw this coming.

4. Flair’s Flirtation with Vince McMahon

On two separate occasions, Flair had opened up with communication with Vince McMahon about possibly joining the big circus in New York. In 1988, during the transition of ownership, Flair came extremely close to jumping ship. He was scheduled to debut at the company’s inaugural SummerSlam card on the Brother Love Show. It made sense, Love was a heat magnet and it was the perfect way to have Flair debut in the WWE’s biggest market. Flair cuts a promo running down Hogan and Savage, setting the stage for the inevitable big feuds down the line. Flair has claimed that he was going to beat Savage for the belt in his debut but I highly doubt the company would drop the Mega Bucks/Mega Powers angle and nobody wins the belt in their debut. Plus, no Liz in her underwear so screw that. Flair would later decide against jumping to the WWE out of loyalty for the Crockett family.

The second occasion took place the previous year when rumors of Flair being in Toronto for WrestleMania weekend and met with Vince about jumping ship again. Flair’s deal was up in May and wanted a two year extension which was denied (Remember that) and was making serious thoughts about joining the WWE. Flair and Herd had already begun their most infamous clash to that point which saw Flair lose his booker job. It seemed like this time Flair would actually sign as the company began prepping for him to drop it to Luger at an April 26th Meadowlands card in a cage match with Terry Funk as the ref. In-between that point, a deal was reached as the cage and Funk was scrapped and Luger won in a DQ finish.

We now have evidence that Flair was willing to talk turkey with McMahon and even use it as a way to get a new deal.

3. The 1990 Spat

As we talked about in our previous reason, Flair and Herd had a blow-up after Sting blew his knee out in February. Herd wanted Flair to drop the belt to Luger at that February’s Wrestle War, but Flair refused, citing that he was waiting for Sting to return. Herd fired Flair as booked and what happened was six months of the company not really making any progression. While this may not be bad, it resulted in the company trying to keep the fans interested in Flair/Luger round three. The Wrestle War match had a pretty smart finish: Luger has Flair beat and the torture rack is locked in the middle of the ring, and the Horsemen attack Sting who was at ringside. Luger lets go and gets counted out trying to fight off the Horsemen. After that, the company made one last attempt to get Flair to drop the belt, in Chicago on March 22nd. The company flew Chris Cruise, Lance Russell, and Dennis Brent along with a production crew to film the title change. Bill Apter even made the flight to Chicago to witness the title change. It seemed like it was going to happen but Flair cited “ample notice” a clause in contract that he wasn’t given enough time to be notified of the change. I really don’t know what classifies as ample notice, but it seemed like something similar to a creative control clause, as in he wasn’t doing it at all. Eventually, Flair relented under one condition that he would get his immediate release. When that didn’t happen, we got Ole hitting Luger with Women’s high heel. It also seemed like they were eying the next night, a card in St. Louis as a potential title change. A production crew was on hand and so was George Napolitano, but once again it was the same finish in Chicago.

The company had to fill another PPV main event for their Capital Combat card with a steel cage main event between Flair and Luger. With Luger losing again being a death knell for his character and Flair standing firm on not jobbing, the company found themselves booked into a corner. The solution, the first ever DQ finish in a steel cage match. As much as people point to Robocop being the worst part of that show, the first and hopefully last DQ finish in a cage match was much worse.

The big problem I always had is that if you do the drop at WrestleWar, you can go two routes for Capital Combat. You can book the title change at Capital Combat and Flair can win via cheating, Sting comes out and you set the stage for the Bash. Or, the company could bust out a match that hadn’t been seen that year, and a sure money maker: WARGAMES. Luger/Steiners/Pillman with Sting in their corner vs The Horsemen with Ole in their corner could deliver a good gate and PPV buys. You get the big rematch at The Bash PPV; Flair cheats to win in the same way at Combat if you go that route, setting up the big Sting/Flair match at Starrcade with Sting taking the belt. Havoc is Sting’s first match back in the company, teaming with Luger against Flair and Anderson. Also, if you go with the route of Sting winning it all at Starrcade, no Black Scorpion angle in 1990. The big problem is that the fans wanted to see the payoff of Luger chasing Flair and didn’t get it….again. Luger would finally get a victory over Flair in 1990, only because Stan Hansen ran in and attacked him. Not even a clean victory.

2. The Windham Drop

Heading into the Bash, Flair and Herd would have their biggest fight. Flair was scheduled to drop the title to Luger, but I’m getting ahead of myself because that is reason number one for this article. After a familiar power play by Flair saw the company getting Flair to drop it to Barry Windham at the TV taping before the Bash, and Windham would make the drop to Luger. What happens next is pretty murky water to navigate, Flair claims that he was fired before the taping. Others claim that the taping started; Flair was nowhere to be found so Herd had enough and dropped the bomb. There’s another claim that Flair told somebody he wouldn’t show up and do the drop. According to Flair himself, he was refusing to make any drop to anybody but Sting again. According to Windham, he was next in line to get the belt after the Bash which means to me that Flair was planning on pulling something or Windham is just confused about what happened. Luger has pretty much said that he didn’t get involved with that type of stuff and didn’t hold any ill will towards anybody. Even if Flair didn’t have any objection to drop it to Windham, who knows if he doesn’t change his mind midway through the trip to the taping? Or just up and leave at the taping? Flair could have pulled a CM Punk and went home until his deal expired next year.

1. Flair’s Last Power Play and Refusal to put Luger Over

Legend vs Legacy

A Steel Cage Match

If Flair gets DQ’ed, he loses the belt

Luger’s last shot at the belt.

Luger has to win right?

Maybe, maybe not.

Well, Luger was supposed to win and the marketing of the match couldn’t be any more obvious. It would be the resolution to Luger chasing Flair for three years; he even chased Flair as a heel. They even booked the card at the same arena where Luger got his first shot at Ric Flair (Baltimore Arena), it felt like the time was right.

Until Flair pulled his last power play. Flair, feeling that by not having the belt he would be vulnerable to a group of people in-power that really didn’t like him: Ole, Herd and Dusty. So, Flair wanted another contract extension before the Bash and Herd offered him one that Flair didn’t like. Flair claims that it cut his salary to 350k, but I tend to think that he wouldn’t be making Sting money (750k) but definitely over 500k. So, he told them that he would use his ample notice clause and would not put Luger over unless he got an amount he liked. So, the company had spent all this time building up the Bash card as Luger finally getting the W and they come to the compromise of doing the Windham drop. After all that, would you be willing to have faith in a guy who just pulled that type of move to drop the belt at a TV taping? You think that Flair would get away with that type of move with McMahon? Vince would have done the same thing as Herd did; I don’t even think he would offer the TV taping drop as a fix. I think he would have fired Flair on the spot with little or no hesitation.

For those that remember my Hulkamania Goes Down South series (Specifically Part 2), Flair would pull a move similar to this when he returned to WCW in 1993. Flair refused to work the career vs career cage match against Hogan until he had a new contract, a contract that he signed that night and Bill Shaw actually hand delivered the contract from Atlanta for him. It worked, because it was Eric Bischoff and he knew that he couldn’t fire Flair before the big cage match.

Well, I laid it all on the table, my reasons for believing that Jim Herd wasn’t wrong for firing Ric Flair in 1991. I hope that I have presented some interesting evidence about the situation that you may have not seen. Flair fans, don’t kill me that bad. Anderson, don’t hit my with a tire iron, my face is my money maker.

I’m Robert Goeman playing Brian Kenny but I’m actually Robert Goeman, have a good night.

It only took 26 years but Sting is finally coming to the WWE…sort of. Rumors have been confirmed that Sting will play a big part in the marketing of the upcoming WWE 2K15 video game. Check out the first promo featuring the former WCW champion.

Sting to WWE2K15 is not necessarily a shocker but it is big news nonetheless. This will be the first time Sting will be featured in a WWE video game. Like the deal made with the Ultimate Warrior last year. This does not indicate that Sting has signed a deal with the WWE. This is simply a deal between Sting and the video game company, although most suspect that a deal with the WWE is imminent.

The WWE posted an official press release announcing the news which featured quotes from Sting. Here are some of the highlights.
One of the most popular and revered competitors in WCW history, Sting will be featured in “WWE 2K15″ through two unique playable characters: the mysterious, ghost-like persona with trademark black-and-white face paint who was the face of WCW during the “Monday Night War” era, as well as his earlier look, sporting bright colors and a blond, flattop hairstyle.

“The only thing for sure about Sting is nothing’s for sure, except my debut in ‘WWE 2K15,’” said Sting. “I’m honored to have my legacy immortalized in a video game. It’s showtime!”

Making his WCW debut in 1991, Sting generated worldwide recognition for his unique presence and in-ring prowess. Across more than a decade, he amassed eight WCW championships and competed against many notable rivals, including “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan, the New World Order (nWo), Vader, Rick Rude, The Four Horsemen and Ric Flair.

“We’re eager to introduce fans to Sting in a compelling new way, while debuting the next generation of gaming in the ‘WWE 2K’ franchise,” said Chris Snyder, Vice President of Marketing at 2K. “Pre-ordering ‘WWE 2K15′ is the ultimate way to embrace the history and individuality of Sting’s impressive career.”

I think one of the big questions coming out of this is the status of Bill Goldberg. There were multiple reports out that indicated Goldberg would be featured in WWE2K15, precluding a return to the ring at WrestleMania 30. I am not sure where this leaves Goldberg or if it changes anything.

Sting’s appearance in the game would indicate an emphasis on WCW in the upcoming game. Last year’s game focused on the nostalgia surrounding 30 years of WrestleMania. My hunch is that this next game will focus on WCW and could feature several former WCW stars in the game. In that case I’d imagine Goldberg could also play a big part in the game.

It’s funny how the WWE can get a game right 13 years later and yet failed to sign Sting in 2001 during the Invasion angle when it counted. Nonetheless he is coming and this may be your only chance to get your Sting vs. Undertaker WrestleMania match.

The WWE Network recently added the entire library of WCW Clash of the Champions. I just happened to stumble across the live stream when Clash XIX was broadcast. This odd lineup on paper looked like a train wreck yet in the ring this show turned out to be an absolute classic.

The show featured the opening round of a tournament to crown a new pair of NWA world tag team champions with the subsequent rounds scheduled to take place at the Great American Bash. The theme was that teams would be represented from all over the world to compete for these vacant titles. While the teams looked like something straight out of Battle Bowl, the show turned out to be one of the more fun two hours of wrestling I have watched since NXT Takeover.

This was a really strange yet incredibly entertaining show. The Bill Watts 1992 era of WCW is highly underrated in regards to how great that era was. Watts often gets criticized for killing a lot of the high-flying, yet doesn’t get the credit he deserves for bringing more of a Japanese strong-style to the company. I would dare say that 1992 is only second to 1989 in the best years of WCW specifically inside of the ring.

Nikita Koloff and Ricky Steamboat defeated the Malenkos – This was greatly disappointing. I remember watching this one live and thinking the same thing. I had watched a lot of tape on the Malenkos in Japan and was a huge Dean Malenko fan. For some reason or another these teams just did not mesh well at all. Nikita nails a sickle on Dean for the pin to advance in the tournament.

Steve Austin and Rick Rude defeated Tom Zenk and Marcus Bagwell – This one, like many on this show was more like a glorified squash match. Madusa looked pretty hot here if I do say so myself. Rude hits the Rude Awakening on Bagwell for the pin. The only takeaway was how awesome of a team Rude and Austin were and how money may have been left on the table by not exploiting that more in WCW.

Terry Gordy and Steve Williams are interviewed by Eric Bischoff. These guys stole the show and were featured throughout the night. Gordy and Williams are fired up and while it was hard to hear, I could swear that Williams made a gay slur in regards to the Oklahoma-Michigan rivalry (the Steiners went to Michigan and Doc went to Oklahoma).

Gordy and Williams defeated Larry and Jeff O’Day – Once again this one was another squash, but there was nothing glorified about this. It was a showcase for Williams and Gordy to hit their power moves and for Doc to hit his big suplex. At one point Williams and Doc look upset over a spot with Larry. Doc finishes Larry off with the Oklahoma Stampede. Say what you want about Bill Watts’ WCW booking, but he is not given enough credit for being the first American promoter at that level to book Doc and Gordy as a regular team in this country.

Jesse Ventura interviews Sting about facing #1 contender Vader at the Bash. The crowd loved Sting but you couldn’t get any more generic with the promo. They put the showdown over as David vs. Goliath. The promo was average but their series was epic and often not given enough credit for how great their matches actually were.

Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes defeat Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton – This was the highlight of the show and that says a lot when you have Liger and Benoit on opposing teams later in the night. This match was just tremendous. These guys had a real fast pace and the crowd ate up every second of it. The match was a great back and forth contest and really showcases how good all of these guys were at the time. If you think about how young Rhodes was in his career and how great he was during this match the kid really was a prodigy. Eaton misses the Alabama Jam and Rhodes hits a bulldog for the pin to advance in the tournament.

Eric Bischoff and Missy Hyatt report on a commotion in the locker room. Out comes Doc and Gordy once again. Doc and Gordy sarcastically talk about a horrible tragedy that has befallen the Puerto Rican team (who are scheduled to face the Steiners). The whole idea here is that Doc and Gordy wanted to ensure that the Steiners advanced to the next round to face them. Kind of odd if you think about the heel team giving the babyface team a dirty win but this was the Bill Watts mentality. Doc and Gordy were tough guys and they wanted to face the toughest guys in the tournament, good or bad guy. It was definitely different. Regardless, Doc and Gordy are awesome once again and continue stealing the show with their promos.

The Fabulous Freebirds defeated the Silver Kings – Give me the Freebirds as heels or don’t give me the Freebirds at all. Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes come out to some awful music and just aren’t clicking at all as babyfaces. Their style definitely lends itself more to a heel than it does a face. The match was terrible and incredibly boring. The birds won the match but an interesting backstory here is that the kings were originally booked to win. The result leaked in a WCW Magazine that went to press before the show and thus the bookers changed the finish as a result.

Ole Anderson, called “senior referee” tells Magnum TA and Tony Schiavone that the Steiner Brothers have been given a bye to advance to the quarter-finals against Gordy and Williams at the Bash.

Jushin Liger and Brian Pillman defeated Beef Wellington and Chris Benoit – Holy smokes, I completely forgot that this match ever took place in WCW. It was quite a coup if you think about it that WCW was able to book New Japan star Justin Liger in the same tournament with All Japan’s top stars in Gordy and Williams. Really good match here, with Benoit taking lots of the big bumps. Jim Ross was exceptional here as he seemed really into the match and got more intense as the match played out. Ross did a fantastic job of putting over the rivalry between Liger and Benoit. Liger and Benoit stole the match here. At one point Benoit gave Liger a German suplex off of the top rope. Biff was just terrible, I mean beyond terrible. He botched several moves including the finish. Liger picked him up for a bodyslam and Wellington was dead weight. Liger hit the moonsault for the win.

Hiroshi Hasi and Akira Nogami defeated the Head Hunters – I guess this would have been the main-event had the show played out differently. Yikes! These are not the same Head Hunters that ran wild in IWA Japan and had a brief run in the WWE. These Head Hunters were two WCW Jobbers under masks. This match was a total waste of Hasi as it was a real basic squash match. Again, you have more NJPW talent mixed into a tournament with All Japan stars. Hase and Nogami score a double-pin on the Hunters for the win and an advance in the tournament.

Welcome to WCW 1992 where you not only get homophobic slurs you also get racist slander. Ron Simmons is interviewed and confronted by Harley Race and the Super Invader (former WWE star Hercules in a mask). Race refers to Simmons as a “boy” and says something else which gets bleeped. This all ends with a brawl which sees Simmons clear the ring…Damn!

Bill Watts comes out to tell Tony Schiavone that there have been arguments between WCW and NWA officials regarding the incident with the Puerto Rican team. Watts says that the NWA president (unnamed) has resigned over it. Gasp! Watts then says as WCW Executive V.P. he is going to make the call and instead of waiting for the Great American Bash to see the Steiners vs. Gordy and Williams, he is going to deliver it next and the second round will start tonight! The crowd goes nuts. It’s a good thing they had just enough time for it. It’s certainly different to deliver a money match with no advertising on a free television show a few weeks before the paid show you are hoping to draw on. Quite frankly I don’t care how ridiculous this logic is, I am just stoked it’s happening now!

Gordy and Williams defeated the Steiner Brothers – Jim Ross is pumped! The Steiners are the WCW tag team champions as they enter this tournament although this match is a non-title match. This match was just fantastic. It was much different than anything you’d see in the U.S. at the time. The match featured a ton of amateur/chain wrestling a long with the strong-style that Gordy and Williams were known for. It was a bit of a risk to pull off but it worked as the fans were into it by the end. Ross puts it over as a dream match which it was at the time. The psychology early on was that Rick was trying to make it an amateur match while Gordy was trying to keep it pro-style. The Steiners worked to suplex Doc and Gordy and kept getting blocked. Rick finally nails one on Williams who sells it like he got hit by a freight truck. The teams keep it relatively clean early on with the Steiners getting the better of Doc and Gordy. Ross mentions Williams and Rick’s past as the Varsity Club. Williams slaps Rick and all hell breaks loose. Rick gets a double leg and pounds away on Doc. Doc and Rick do some great wrestling on the ground. Doc finally nails Rick with a hell of a clothesline. Gordy and Williams use a lot of forearms. Gordy tries and is reversed on a suplex attempt by Rick. Scott gets the hot tag. Scott hits a double-underhook powerbomb. Gordy reverses a Frankensteiner attempt and gets an STF. Doc holds Scott up for two consecutive backbreakers. Gordy and Williams keep going for leg submissions on Scott, working over the knee. Gordy and Williams are real fluent with their double-team moves. Rick gets the hot tag and is all over Doc. Rick clotheslines Doc over the top. Gordy jumps in and he and Rick start brawling from one side of the ring to the other. The crowd is going nuts as is Jim Ross. This is great! Jesse Ventura says it’s turned into a total fight. Doc comes in and gets Rick from behind. Rick powerslams Doc but the referee won’t count and says that he didn’t see Rick tag in. Doc hits the Oklahoma shoulder block right into Scott’s knee (think a football chop block). Rick and Gordy are back in the ring brawling. Scott can barely stand up. Ross says his knee has about disintegrated (I can assure you that it hasn’t disappeared). Williams presses Scott over his head and catches him with a powerslam on the way down for two. Scott ducks a clothesline and catches Doc in a belly-to-belly position. Gordy runs in and chops Scott’s knee from behind as the referee is distracted. Doc pins Scott for the win in a major upset as the #4 seed defeated the #1 seed. Ventura puts it over big as an upset.

Overall this was a really fun show. The show featured all kinds of talent you either never or rarely got the chance to see in America. It truly did have an international flavor to it, capped off but a terrific main-event. Go out of your way to see this one on the network as well as the remainder of the tournament at the Bash 1992 which featured some real fun matches from the remaining tournament teams.

By the beginning of 1996, the crowds had finally had enough of Hulk Hogan. The company had resorted to piping in cheers in case of booing or putting him with popular sports stars (Kevin Greene) to get the fans cheering. Hulk was being booed by fans everywhere, no longer the south. Hogan hit the point of oversaturation, a point that he was hitting in 1991 when the crowd was 50/50 for him against Undertaker at Survivor Series.

That’s why Vince wanted to make him the Babe Ruth of wrestling as he coined, trot Hogan out for the special appearance every now and then, keep him fresh. It wasn’t like the rest of the Amazing Friends were being booed by the fans, Sting was still massively over and Savage despite being a WWE guy endeared himself to the fans by working hard and having a great feud with Flair. The Hogan and Giant feud was continuing and hatred for Hulkamania, and his ridiculousness of his creative control was reaching its zenith at Superbrawl.

First, Hogan and Giant were the main event, not the continuing grudge feud between Flair and Savage for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. It should also be noted that the most deadly weapon in the company at the time was a high heeled shoe as it both did significant damage to Hulk and Savage. Hulk and the Giant went through another bad match as the crowd showed no mercy on Hogan. Hulk was booed throughout the entire match and you have to remember this wasn’t the south. This was the Cow Palace in California; Hulk should have been a hero in this territory. Instead, you’d think that Hogan came out in a Cowboys jersey or something.

Hulk won and then The Dungeon came out to try and attack Hogan. I do mean they try as the entire Dungeon of Doom gets a beating from Hogan as he delivers pitiful chair shots to seven men. They introduced Hulk’s new big enemy, Loch Ness Monster who really wanted to fight Hogan. For those of you that don’t know, The Loch Ness Monster was British wrestler and occasional Stampede regular, Giant Haystacks. By the time he was lined up to be Hogan’s new enemy he had been wrestling for 29 years and was 50 years old. Yep, they were trotting out a fifty year old man to face Hogan, who was turning 43 that year. Sadly, Haystacks was diagnosed with cancer after joining WCW and presumably a big money run never happened.

Sorry to be a downer on that last part.

You’d think that after the less than stellar reaction that Hogan received in California that the company would rethink their plans for Hogan. Hulk was already scheduled to take off after Uncensored, make it a gift to give him an extra month off. Instead, the company would unleash its newest concept: The Doomsday Cage match. What was the Doomsday Cage match you may ask? Well, it was a takeoff the old Tower of Doom match that happened at the 1988 Great American Bash. It was a precursor to the Triple Decker cage that WCW would trot out in 2000, the company was hoping that the Tower of Doom would be the next big gimmick match after WarGames. It wasn’t. The match was tough for the fans to see, the cage was clunky and difficult to operate and I’m honestly surprised that it didn’t fall apart with ten two hundred pound plus men fighting throughout it. The match also sucked.

The storyline going into the match was that The Four Horsemen and The Dungeon of Doom formed an alliance….The Alliance to End Hulkamania. Sullivan issued the challenge for Hogan to face the entire group in The Doomsday Cage match. At some point, I presume that the idea of Hogan going over the entire group on the table and I also presume that Flair was going to do the job. I’m just guessing that Hogan and Bischoff had a running tally on how many times they could make Flair cry in a year. The winner would get Turner’s credit card for two nights of debauchery.

You’d think that cooler heads would prevail and they would add Savage, Sting, Road Warriors and I can’t believe I’m saying this but the Booty Man to the match. Instead, they went with Hogan and Savage. Interestingly enough, Brian Pillman was a part of the group and it was rumored that Hogan campaigned heavily to do something with Pillman during the match, so that he could squash him and kill off The Loose Cannon character. Pillman smartened up and requested his release before such a thing could happen. To counter this, the company dragged Zeus out of obscurity (Now Z-Gangsta) and Robert “Bane from that Batman move you wish you could forget” Swanson and added them to the match. Yes, they brought Zeus back to revive a feud that died almost a decade ago. Swanson hadn’t been on the national wrestling stage in almost a decade and was named The Final Solution. Are we sure that Mel Gibson wasn’t secretly booking WCW at the time?

That was cheap, but worth it.

You remember about what I said about the original Tower of Doom match and how it was tough for the fans to see and it was a mostly poor effort since you’re putting cage-on-cage without any solid footing for the wrestlers. It was also tough for the fans to see since the actual match took place in a set-up near the entrance. I’m just going to presume that fans didn’t see it on the jumbotron at the arena, so there be a lot of gawking of the necks to see it. If somebody offers you a chance to watch it, don’t since it is a beyond awful match. It managed to have a negative three star rating and snagged the worst match of the year award from the Observer. Observe that, Hogan. Oh yeah, Flair jobs in the end.

Because why the hell not.

Hogan would take his hiatus, not before defeated Sullivan and Anderson (Whom defeated Hogan twice on television) in a handicap match in around four minutes.

Because why the hell not.

Robert Goeman has been writing for CamelClutchBlog since 2014 and has written for FiveOuncesofPain and What Culture. Follow him on twitter at https://twitter.com/RobertGoeman. After every article, Robert usually does “Talking Points” on twitter, bringin up points that didn’t make the article.

In our last article, we talked about the Hogan and Vader feud and while this was happening, did you wonder what happened to The Three Faces of Fear? Oh, you didn’t? Well, guess what I didn’t want to cover this part. I just wanted to gloss over this part but my boss demanded that I cover this. Well, the Avalanche went on to feud with Sting and Savage and Sullivan beat The Butcher so bad that the Butcher got amnesia. The Butcher had a new name, The Man with No Name and would feud with Sullivan. They had a match, Sullivan won and that was it.

OR IS IT?

Until Sullivan got messages from The Master (Curtis Iaukea caked in powdered sugar it seemed like) saying that he needed form the Dungeon of Doom and destroy Hulkamania. He also became The Taskmaster, an upgrade from Gamesmaster I guess. It should be noted that around this time, Sullivan began painting some weird as heck symbols on his head and their dungeon looked like a rejected Haunted Mansion add on. It probably was actually. Sullivan assembled his army of freaks to face Hulkamania: The Zodiac (Formerly the Butcher, don’t ask), The Shark (Formerly the Avalanche, don’t ask), Meng (Former bodyguard to wearing a giant dragon’s head, don’t ask) and Kamala (Because….he faced Hogan in the 80’s).

Oh, and Vader joined the group since they were filming the Baywatch episode and Sullivan worked his way into the episode. So basically the group was Kevin Sullivan and Hogan Punching Bags 1-5. I have to give credit to Sullivan for this; he knew what Hogan wanted after going through the Vader and Flair feuds. Hulk wanted to recreate the glory days of him running through monsters and Sullivan pitched him something like that. It resulted in Sullivan getting in the inner circle of Hogan and getting the booker job.

Around this time, a large young man by the name of Paul Wight was trying to break into the wrestling industry. A former basketball player, Wight was 7’2 and possessed agility not seen from a big man since the early days of Andre the Giant. Wight tried to get in contact with the WWE, but was promptly told to get experience. He presented a tape of him running the ropes (He did not have much training) to Mike Chioda, but Pat Patterson thought it was The Kurrigan. Yeah, Vince wasn’t happy once he realized that they had a chance to get this guy, but didn’t. Instead, Wight with the help of Danny Bonaduce of all people was put into contact with Hogan and Hulk saw dollar signs in his eyes and thus the rest of history. The Giant was pushed right to the top and the controversy wouldn’t come from said push, but how he debuted.

Instead of just having the Giant show up and destroy Hogan out of the blue, he showed up on the Bash at the Beach pre show and threw a white shirt at Hogan. Hulk stammered that the shirt belonged to Andre and yes, we’re going to talk about this. There were actual talks about billing him as Andre the Giant Jr. at one point and I’m not kidding. Even worse, they had Hogan give an awful interview saying that he remembered seeing this young man watching him at the Silverdome. Do you think it could get any worse? If you said yes, then YOU WON A FREE MILKSHAKE*. Hulk would later say in the buildup that he would bury The Giant just like how he buried his father…uh yeah. It should be noted that Andre had only been dead for two years at this point and his family was rather pissed at this. It should be noted that this was dropped and then brought up by Scott Hall a year later.

In order to hype this up, you’d think that the company would go old school, have The Giant just absolutely wreck via Hogan in the ring. A whole bunch of chokes slams, the Hulk quiver sell, take him out via ambulance. Heck, have Hulk cough up some blood to sell the effect; it got Lesnar some massive heat. Instead, Hulk entered the Dungeon of Doom twice and the first one would be legendary in all the wrong ways. Overacting worse than Nic Cage in Wicker Man with such immortal lines as:

“WHERE AM I?”

“THERE’S NO HULKAMANIACS HERE!”

“AHHH! IT’S NOT HOT!”

Hulk would be beaten by The Giant and would then renter and take another beating after more horrible acting. Even with the presence of The Amazing Friends, Hulk would take another beating from the Dungeon until MOTHERFRIGGING VADER saved the day. As a kid, the thought of Vader and this monster fighting were awesome, what can I say I’m a mark for a good hoss fight! Vader was added to Hogan’s team to face The Dungeon (Kamala/Zodiac/Meng/Shark) and would get five minutes with Sullivan if he won. Until Vader got fired for losing a fight to Orndorff and was replaced by Lex Luger at the last minute…but that’s for a different article for a different time. This would also set in stone Sting looking like a complete idiot for insisting that the amazing friends could trust Luger and for trusting Ric Flair the next month.

Earlier in the show, The Giant ran over Hulk’s prized motorcycle with a monster truck surely setting the most unintentionally funny moment of 1995, a year full of them. Hulk’s team wins and you can actually see fans leave during Hulk’s beatdown of Sullivan. The only redeemable part in all this is The Giant using the cage to jump over the ropes and then jumping the ropes like it’s nothing. You seriously forget that Show was insanely agile at this point in his career. Giant beats up Hogan, doing what they should have done in the beginning and fake snaps his neck.

After this, the Amazing Friends would sort of splinter off. Sting went off to get swerved by a heel for the 45,677th time, Savage and Luger would feud over who the better wrestler is and we’d get…well I can’t do this. The build-up to Hogan/Giant is like a special Robert Zone from hell…but since I like you the reader, I’ll do my best. First, Hogan gets attacked by Sullivan who is dressed like a woman, gets his neck fake snapped by Giant again and has his mustache shaved. Hulk came back the next week wearing all black, claiming that he was playing on Taskmasters level now.

He then compared his mustache to Mount Rushmore and it being shaved to desecrating the American flag. The stupidity would continue when it was announced that The Giant would meet Hogan twice in one night with the first being a monster sumo match. Hulk’s turn to the darkness more or less consisted of him wearing black and cutting wildly stupid promos. How worse could it get? The Master introduced an “Insurance Policy” for the main event, the Yeti. The company kept the character under wraps, underneath a block of ice until the ending of Nitro when it flashed a whole bunch of colors and blew up. Nitro quickly ended before we really got a good look at him.

Yes, they were actually spending money on monster trucks and to have them film something with the trucks on-top of Cobo Hall. You probably could have shot it on a green screen and save some money. If you’re thinking that hey, they wouldn’t actually spend the money to AIRLIFT the cars on-top of the place, you’re wrong. Or to spend money on a helicopter to get the various overhead shots that they used during the show. Hogan won the “match”, Giant attacked and Hogan accidentally knocked him off the roof of the building. We can probably add the stunt company hired to coordinate the stunt to the rather large budget.

The announcers played it off as completely serious with an over dramatic “NO” from Eric Bischoff and Heenan salvaging the entire thing by acting like his child had gone missing. The main event would arrive and Hulk would come out first and try sympathetic and actually apologized for KILLING A MAN. The Giant would actually arrive and they would never explain how the Giant came back to life, just that he was seemingly superhuman. The match was on and it wasn’t the best, but hey I’m not surprised. Hulk wasn’t the type to do a carry job and this was on the first handful a matches that The Giant was having. Jimmy Hart would knock the ref out and while it came out of nowhere, it was very well done and would benefit Hart since he just awful as a face manager. Luger and Savage ran out to save the day, and then the insurance policy arrived. A yeti is a rather large and furry creature that is a myth. What the yeti isn’t, is a mummy covered in what appears to be poop stained toilet paper. Somebody forgot to tell WCW that, and that while staying on the Poop Mummy (Or as Skeevonie called it: YEH-TAI), they would completely miss Luger turning on Savage.

The Poop Mummy would then partake in a dry humping of Hulk Hogan, the worse pain Hulk has dealt with…..you know the joke already. I have to praise them, the ending was really good besides the humping, Savage and Hulk are completely beaten down and there are no good guys to save the day. It was one dark ending for a wrestling card which usually had the good guys win to send the fans home happy. It could have been much much worse as the Yeti was supposed to be El Gigante and another monster would be introduced, The Super Ninja played by Ron Reis who played The Yeti. It was all supposed to set-up World War III with Hogan in one ring, Giant in another and the Yeti in the other one. By the time we actually reached the card, Reis had become a ninja, nobody cared and he was the first one eliminated.

The belt was vacated because of the debauchery and we got more Hogan insane and embraced the darkness. And by embrace, we mean they taped more incoherent promos with him and Savage wearing all black and wanting the head of Meng. This would all be revealed to be mind games as he would embrace the darkness in a pre-show promo. Hulk also revealed that Savage’s arm injury was fake (It wasn’t) and then took out a copy of the Wrestling Observer that proclaimed that the Giant will win it all. He then screamed “OBSERVE THIS”, burned it and claimed that the real spoilers were on the internet. Here’s the thing about the Observer, companies never acknowledged the Observer since they didn’t want the fans finding out about it.

Honestly, I think that Memphis acknowledged the Observer once when they said that Lance Russell won TV Announcer of the year four times in a row from a prestigious newsletter. Well, Savage won the battle royal, Hulk was pulled under the ring and it set-up an angle so that Hogan could take off for Starrcade. Hulk went crazy, hit the Giant with a chair a whole bunch of times and it would be the last we’d see Hulk.

It should be noted that Starrcade 1995 was an excellent show, almost an apology by the company for subjecting us to this crap.

*Do not ask me for a free milkshake.

Robert Goeman has been writing for CamelClutchBlog since 2014 and has written for FiveOuncesofPain and What Culture. Follow him on twitter at https://twitter.com/RobertGoeman. After every article, Robert usually does “Talking Points” on twitter, bringin up points that didn’t make the article.

Seth Rollins’ betrayal of his Shield teammates in favor of Evolution has drawn both shocked reactions and lukewarm reception from viewers. While it’s too early to stamp Rollins’ turn as a success or a failure, here’s a look at some of the wrestling history he’s up against, the twenty-five best shifts to the dark side ever.

25. Shawn Michaels Superkicks Hulk Hogan (July 4, 2005)

Would’ve meant more if WWE had stuck to Michaels’ heel run, but Hogan’s alleged refusal to lay down (ironic if you’re Michaels) killed the impact. Independence Day Raw ends with Hogan and Michaels passively celebrating a win, and Michaels landing Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere.

24. Terry Taylor Gradually Betrays Chris Adams (May 1987)

With UWF’s excitable Jim Ross calling each turn of the key, Taylor was conveniently absent for Hot Stuff International’s assaults on Adams, culminating with Taylor subtly allowing Adams to be pinned in a Tag Team Title defense. In a later singles match, Taylor piledrove an injured Adams on the floor, solidifying the turn.

23. Scott Steiner Lays Out Brother Rick (February 22, 1998)

It seemed as though by 1998, everyone on the planet save for Steve Lombardi had joined the nWo. That the eventual “Big Poppa Pump” did so by mauling brother Rick during a Tag Team Title defense against The Outsiders is only diluted by the notion that everyone seemed to turn in this era.

22. Sgt. Slaughter Spits on America, Sides with Iraq (August 1990)

A rather silly grab at kick-starting jingoism and Hulkamania in one swipe, Slaughter (now departed from the dying AWA) returned to WWE as a Saddam Hussein-sympathizer in the midst of the Gulf conflict, as Iraq invaded Kuwait. Bad taste, but it drew its share of heat.

21. Triple H Joins the Corporation (March 28, 1999)

Chyna’s two turns in one night was dizzying enough against the backdrop of a time-period where somebody turned every week. Still, Triple H Pedigree’ing X-Pac at WrestleMania XV was the launching pad of Paul Levesque’s rise to the highest office in WWE, via a relentless main event push for the next decade.

20. Bret Hart Condemns America (March 24, 1997)

With crowds divided between heroic Hart and anti-hero Steve Austin, ‘The Hitman’ goes on a post-WrestleMania tirade against American values, and what he felt was a decline in decency and morals. Shortly thereafter, Hart assaulted rival Shawn Michaels, solidifying a heel turn in America, while remaining a hero around the world.

19. Chris Jericho Wounds Shawn Michaels’ Eye (June 9, 2008)

After pointing out Michaels’ bouts of unfair play, and insinuating that Michaels enjoyed retiring Ric Flair at WrestleMania, Jericho attacks his long-time rival on the set of The Highlight Reel, and sends him face-first into his Jeri-Tron 6000 set piece, igniting the last WWE feud to intentionally feature blood.

18. Ted Dibiase Chooses Skandor Akbar Over Jim Duggan (May 1983)

Although more of a face turn for Duggan than anything, Dibiase gets heel-turn credit for sinking lower than the rule-breaking Rat Pack. Akbar’s “Devastation Inc” was anti-American and inherently more nefarious than anything Duggan and Dibiase had done with Matt Borne, so when Dibiase accepted Akbar’s offer, it kicked off a heated feud between sell-out Dibiase and proud patriot Duggan, foreshadowing their WWE personas.

17. Stone Cold Sells His Soul (April 1, 2001)

Would’ve ranked higher had Austin’s 2001 not been so creatively bankrupt and ill-received (to be fair, a lot of that’s on Austin for still wrestling like an outlaw ass-kicker). But the story is memorable: Austin enlists sworn enemy Vince McMahon to help him beat The Rock for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania X7, a match that Austin claimed he ‘had to win’.

16. Paul Bearer Betrays The Undertaker (August 18, 1996)

For nearly six years, Undertaker did not exist without Paul Bearer. Not a manager who needed a stable, Bearer happily co-existed with Undertaker as a package deal. That’s why during Undertaker’s Boiler Room Brawl with Mankind at SummerSlam, Bearer’s sudden turn, punctuated with an urn to Taker’s skull, was so shocking.

15. The Horsemen Leave Sting for Dead (February 6, 1990)

Sting found himself part of a babyface version of The Horsemen with Ric Flair and The Andersons, set to combat Gary Hart’s J-Tex Corporation. Sting, naive as he always was, made the mistake of challenging Flair for a World Title match, and was promptly beaten by his so-called friends. Sting injured his knee that night attempting to get revenge, but would go over on Flair for the gold at that year’s Great American Bash.

14. The Authority Excommunicates Daniel Bryan (August 18, 2013)

After cleanly going over on John Cena to become WWE Champion at SummerSlam, Bryan was faced with an eager Randy Orton, who was set to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase. Then referee Triple H (a babyface at this point) Pedigreed Bryan, enabling Orton (also a babyface before these actions) to score the title. Thus, The Authority was born.

13. Owen Hart Kicks Bret’s Leg (Out of His Leg) (January 22, 1994)

Simmering since Survivor Series, Owen Hart stewed in brother Bret’s shadow, claiming to have been held back out of jealousy. Cooler heads seemed to prevail, and the brothers faced the Quebecers for the Tag Team Titles at the Royal Rumble. When the Harts lost by stoppage due to Bret’s injured knee, Owen engaged in the ultimate meltdown, concluding by kicking Bret’s bad knee and leaving in a huff.

12. Austin Idol Bloodies Jerry Lawler (January 4, 1987)

Moments before Lawler was set to challenge AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel for the gold, friend Idol entered the ring and demanded that “The King” step aside. Lawler refused, and Idol busted him open. A week later, Idol and new friend Tommy Rich continued the onslaught, ending with Idol cradling Lawler’s head and passively bitch-slapping him. The payoff was a cage match in April 1987 where the loser got their head shaved, and a near-riot ensued.

11. The Rock and Shane McMahon Go Corporate (November 15, 1998)

Shane’s heel turn ranks as one of the most unexpected in the jaded internet era, as he refused to impartially count Steve Austin’s pin of Mankind in the World Title Tournament. Less than an hour later, Shane and father Vince screwed simpleton lackey Mankind in the finals in favor of their new corporate champion, The Rock.

10. Ric Flair Crosses Dusty Rhodes (September 29, 1985)

A different sort of ‘heel turn’, as Flair would hardly qualify as a babyface in this instance. As a tweener, NWA Champion Flair retained the gold over Nikita Koloff inside a cage, and Koloff’s comrades laid a beatdown afterward. Rhodes made the save on his enemy’s behalf as an act of conciliation. Rather than accept the gesture, Flair allowed Ole and Arn Anderson to jump Dusty, and the three broke his ankle inside the locked cage. If Flair’s allegiance was on the fence before the day, he ended it as the top heel once more.

9. Marty Jannetty Eats Glass (December 3, 1991)

Legendary for the unique moment of Shawn Michaels propelling Jannetty through the window of The Barber Shop, and Jannetty blading on what was generally family programming. Had Jannetty not been temporarily let go after a police altercation in early 1992, the planned blowoff at WrestleMania VIII could’ve been epic. Still, it set Michaels in motion to become one of wrestling’s greatest stars.

8. Vince McMahon Embraces the Hate (April 13, 1998)

Hard to pin down the exact moment Vince became classified as ‘heel’, but post-Montreal, McMahon started to dance around the fire with simple remarks toward Steve Austin, including his wish that Austin not become the WWE Champion. After a pair of run-ins with Austin post-WrestleMania, McMahon accepted Austin’s challenge for a match on the Raw that turned the ratings tide against WCW, and “Mr. McMahon” became one of wrestling’s greatest villains.

7. Larry Zbyszko Betrays Bruno Sammartino (January 22, 1980)

Sammartino was wrestling royalty in WWE, and protege Zbyszko couldn’t get out of his shadow. During an exhibition match between teacher and student, Sammartino gamely outwrestled his younger opponent, much to Zbyszko’s frustration. Once thrown to the floor, Zbyszko returned with a chair, and bashed it over Bruno’s head, leaving him laying in his own blood. In real life, Zbyszko had his life threatened by numerous fans in the Northeast, before paying off the feud with a cage match at Shea Stadium.

6. The Freebirds Annihilate Kerry Von Erich (December 25, 1982)

Michael Hayes was chosen to be guest enforcer for Ric Flair’s NWA World Title defense against Von Erich, held inside a steel cage in Dallas, TX; true Von Erich territory. Late in the match, Hayes laid out Flair for Von Erich’s benefit, but Kerry wouldn’t accept the cheap win. Von Erich went for the door, only for Hayes’ cohort Terry Gordy to slam the door on his head. Von Erich failed to win the gold, and the Freebirds-Von Erichs long rivalry was ignited.

5. Paul Orndorff Clotheslines Hulk Hogan (June 24, 1986)

Friends ever since Orndorff turned face in the spring of 1985, Hogan and Orndorff would team a number of times in rivalry with Roddy Piper, Bob Orton, and others. When Orndorff began to show signs of jealousy, and a missed phone call to Hulk made Orndorff look bad, the two put aside differences for a match with King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd. Post-match, Orndorff clotheslined Hogan, and then piledrove him, kicking off a mega-feud for the WWE Championship.

4. Terry Funk Murders Ric Flair (May 7, 1989)

Flair was just minutes removed from regaining the NWA Title, concluding his iconic trilogy with Ricky Steamboat, when Funk (serving as a ringside judge in the event of a draw) forcibly asked for a title shot. When Flair dismissed him, albeit with some regard, as not among the next batch of contenders, Funk’s ‘apology’ for the intrusion was to wallop Flair, and piledrive him through the judge’s table at ringside. The two would war through the remainder of 1989.

3. The Mega Powers Explode (February 3, 1989)

In one of the most extensively-subtle performances in wrestling history, Savage would show slight discomfort at Hogan’s kind treatment of Miss Elizabeth, no matter how innocent. Additonally, jealousy of Hogan’s popularity factored into Savage’s deteriorating mental state. Finally, during a match with the Twin Towers, Hogan tended to the injured valet, and Savage finally lost it, exploding with a hate-filled tirade at a stunned Hulk, before nailing him with the WWE belt in front of a pained Liz.

2. Andre the Giant Confronts Hulk Hogan (January 26, 1987)

Upset at playing second fiddle to a ceremony for Hogan’s three-year championship reign, Andre walks off, only to return weeks later on Piper’s Pit with Bobby Heenan as his new manager. Andre calmly told an astonished Hogan that he had only one thing to demand: a World Title match at WrestleMania III. Hogan tried to reason with Andre, who callously ripped Hogan’s shirt and crucifix jewel off in response. The result was one of the most historic and important wrestling matches in history.

1. Hulk Hogan is “The Third Man” (July 7, 1996)

This time, it’s Hogan doing the turning. After Scott Hall and Kevin Nash invaded WCW in the spring of 1996, they promised a hostile takeover, and the addition of a third man. At Bash at the Beach, during the anticipated main event where that man would be revealed, Lex Luger was injured, leaving Sting and Randy Savage alone with The Outsiders. Hulk Hogan appeared to make the save, only to leg drop Savage, and reveal his treachery. Hogan’s post-match speech, denouncing WCW and the fans that turned on him, while announcing the formation of the New World Order, is the greatest promo of his iconic career, and that’s saying something.